A record five Black governors will serve at the same time in the United States starting in January 2027. The November 3, 2026 midterm elections produced that milestone when four Black candidates won governor races in Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin, and Nevada, joining Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who won reelection on the same night.
Before this election, only three Black Americans had ever been elected governor in the history of the country. Never had two served at the same time. The 2026 results nearly doubled the total number of Black Americans ever elected to a governor office, and they did it in a single night, across four states, with candidates from both major parties.
Quick Facts
| Milestone | Five Black governors serving at the same time, a first in American history |
| When it takes effect | January 2027, when the new governors take office |
| Election day | November 3, 2026 |
| New governors elected | Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Byron Donalds in Florida, David Crowley in Wisconsin, Aaron Ford in Nevada |
| Reelected governor | Wes Moore in Maryland |
| Black Americans elected governor before 2026 | Three: Wes Moore, Deval Patrick, and Doug Wilder |
| Two serving at once before 2026 | Never happened |
| Parties represented | Four Democrats and one Republican |
Why Five at Once Matters So Much
The number five sounds small until you look at the history behind it. In more than 200 years of American elections, only three Black Americans had ever won a governor race before November 3, 2026. Those three were Wes Moore in Maryland, Deval Patrick in Massachusetts, and Doug Wilder in Virginia. Each of those wins was treated as a landmark on its own, and each man served alone as the only Black governor in the country at the time.
That is what makes this moment different. This was not one breakthrough in one state. Four Black candidates won in four different states on the same night, in different parts of the country, running very different campaigns. Georgia and Florida are in the South. Wisconsin is in the Midwest. Nevada is in the West. The winners include a former big-city mayor, a sitting member of Congress, a state attorney general, and a candidate who had briefly stepped away from his own campaign months earlier.
The result also cuts across party lines. Four of the five are Democrats, but the fifth is a Republican, and he made history of his own as the first Black Republican governor in the nation. That mix matters because it shows the milestone is not the product of one party or one region. Voters in states with very different politics all chose Black candidates to lead them, and they did it on the same day. For a fuller look at the night that produced these results, read our roundup of the 2026 midterms and the historic firsts they delivered, which covers the wider set of barrier-breaking wins.
Governors hold real power over daily life. They shape education policy, control state budgets, sign or veto laws, and lead the response when disaster strikes. Having five Black governors in office at once means five states will have Black leadership at the top of that work.
Keisha Lance Bottoms Makes History in Georgia
Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat and the former mayor of Atlanta, made history as Georgia’s first Black governor and its first woman governor. She defeated the Republican pick, Rick Jackson, and in doing so she ended a Republican hold on the Georgia governor office that had lasted 24 years.
Bottoms came into the race with one of the best-known names in Georgia politics. As mayor of Atlanta, she led the state’s largest city and built a national profile. That experience gave her a base in the Atlanta area, and her campaign carried that support across the state. Her win breaks two barriers at once, race and gender, in a state where Republicans had won every governor race for nearly a quarter of a century.
The end of that 24-year run is a story in itself. For a generation of Georgia voters, a Republican governor was simply normal. Bottoms changed that in one election, and her victory will be remembered as a turning point in Southern politics.
Byron Donalds Breaks Two Barriers in Florida
Byron Donalds, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, became Florida’s first Black governor and the nation’s first Black Republican governor. At 48 years old, he topped Democratic challenger David Jolly in a race that drew national attention.
Donalds ran on a promise to continue the policies of Governor Ron DeSantis, focusing on education, deregulation, and immigration. That message connected with Florida voters, and his win keeps the governor office in Republican hands while changing who holds it in a historic way. He is the only Republican among the five Black governors who will serve together, and his presence on the list gives the milestone a bipartisan shape that few expected.
His victory also adds a new chapter to the story of Black Republicans in American politics. Black candidates have won statewide office as Republicans before, but none had ever won a governor race until Donalds. His win in Florida, one of the largest states in the country, puts that fact in the spotlight.
David Crowley and Aaron Ford Complete the Picture
David Crowley, a Democrat, defeated Republican Tom Tiffany to become Wisconsin’s first Black governor. His road to the win was not smooth. Months before Election Day, Crowley briefly suspended his campaign, a move that raised real questions about whether his run would survive. He came back, rebuilt his effort, and won a race that gives Wisconsin its first Black governor.
Crowley’s win matters for the Midwest in particular. Wisconsin is a state where statewide races are often decided by narrow margins, and his victory shows that a Black candidate can win at the top of the ticket there.
Aaron Ford, a Democrat, won in Nevada by defeating incumbent Republican Governor Joe Lombardo. Ford came into the race as the state’s attorney general and a former state senator, so he brought years of experience in Nevada government with him. Beating an incumbent governor is one of the hardest tasks in American politics, and Ford did it to become Nevada’s first Black governor.
Ford’s win is also the only one of the four new victories that removed a sitting governor from office. He had to beat a governor who already held the job, and it gives Nevada a new leader with deep roots in the state’s legal and legislative work.
Wes Moore Wins Reelection in Maryland
Wes Moore, the incumbent Democratic governor of Maryland, first made history in 2022 when he became the state’s first Black governor. On November 3, 2026, he won reelection against Republican challenger Dan Cox, who had also run against him in 2022.
Moore’s reelection is the piece that turns four historic wins into a record five. Without his victory, the new governors would have joined a group of one. With it, the number jumps to five serving at the same time, a figure no one in American history has seen before. His rematch with Cox ended the same way their first meeting did, and Moore now heads into a second term with a place in a record that will be remembered long after the campaign fades.
Moore’s story also connects the past to the present. When he won in 2022, he became only the third Black American ever elected governor. Four years later, he is the senior figure in a group of five, and the man who once stood alone now shares the category with four colleagues across the country. His win also fits a wider pattern from the night, with other first-time barrier breakers winning big races, including Amy Klobuchar becoming the first woman elected governor of Minnesota.
What Happens Next
All five governors take office in January 2027, and the months between the election and inauguration will be filled with transition work. Each new governor will build a team, set priorities, and prepare a first budget. For Bottoms, Donalds, Crowley, and Ford, the transition is their first move from candidate to chief executive of a state. For Moore, it is the start of a second term with a stronger mandate.
The record itself will invite attention, and not all of it will be friendly. Each of these governors will be judged on the same things every governor is judged on: schools, jobs, roads, budgets, and crisis response. The historic nature of their wins will follow them into office, but their success will be measured by results.
There is also a wider effect to watch. When five Black governors serve at once, the group becomes a visible pool of experienced leaders for higher office in the future. Governors are often talked about as future presidential or Senate candidates, and this group will be no exception. For now, though, the story is simpler: five states chose five Black leaders on the same night, and American politics will never look quite the same. The same election night also produced other firsts in big cities, such as Nithya Raman defeating Karen Bass to become the first Asian American mayor of Los Angeles, a reminder that the 2026 results broke barriers at many levels of government at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Black governors will serve at the same time after the 2026 midterms?
Five. Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia, Byron Donalds of Florida, David Crowley of Wisconsin, and Aaron Ford of Nevada won their races on November 3, 2026, and they join Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who won reelection that night.
How many Black Americans had ever been elected governor before 2026?
Only three: Wes Moore in Maryland, Deval Patrick in Massachusetts, and Doug Wilder in Virginia. The 2026 results nearly doubled that total, and for the first time ever, more than one Black governor will serve at the same time.
Who is the first Black Republican governor in American history?
Byron Donalds of Florida. The 48-year-old Republican congressman defeated Democrat David Jolly to become Florida’s first Black governor and the nation’s first Black Republican governor.
When do the new governors take office?
The record group of five takes office in January 2027. Bottoms, Donalds, Crowley, and Ford begin their first terms, while Moore begins his second term in Maryland.
Sources
USA Today: Black governors make history in the 2026 election
Associated Press: Elections 2026 results and coverage
Final Thoughts
The 2026 midterms gave America a number it had never seen before: five Black governors serving at the same time. It happened because four candidates won in four very different states on one night, and because Wes Moore won reelection in Maryland to complete the group. The record belongs to Bottoms, Donalds, Crowley, Ford, and Moore, but its meaning belongs to the voters who chose them. History was made on November 3, 2026. Now the real work begins, and these five governors will be judged by what they do with the job they just won.
